Monday Wrap Up: Politics News
1. Anti-red tape ministry advises against anti-red tape bill (The Post, Andrea Vance)
David Seymour's anti-red tape ministry says his new bill to slash red tape is unnecessary.
An interim regulatory impact statement from [The Ministry of Regulation] said while it supports the overall objectives [of Seymour’s bill], it says the legislation isn’t needed.
It’s preferred option is to build on, and strengthen, an existing regime from legislation passed in 2019.
This would “achieve many of the same benefits,” and “The Ministry also considers this option would impose fewer compliance costs on government agencies.”
Seymour rejects his officials’ advice:
“This Government is levelling the playing field whether the bureaucracy likes it or not. Come to think of it, it’s probably better if they don’t.”
Green party public service spokesperson Francisco Hernandez said:
“The Minister seems to be confused. The advice he's referring to come from his own Ministry for Regulation and if he doesn't think his department's advice is credible then he should shut it down.”
Comment: In a select committee from August, David Seymour told members the key function of his Ministry of Regulation was to ensure proposed laws made sense and provided value and effiiency.
Therefore, why is he now painting his own department’s advice - and doing what he set them up to do - as useless and irrelevant?
2. A huge DoC reset is on the cards, but will it affect conservation or your next tramp? (NZ Herald / NZME - Chelsea Daniels)
Over the coming weeks, many Kiwis will be heading to our national parks and great walks for their summer holidays.
But if you’re doing so for a cheap summer break, enjoy the free ride while it lasts.
The Department of Conservation (DoC) is $1.65 billion short every year on what it needs to cover its responsibilities – and that’s just for biodiversity
The Government is looking at several ways to swell DoC’s coffers. At the moment, its annual budget is about $650 million.
Conservation Minister Tama Potaka is driving a series of proposals including access charges, more forestry on DOC land, new fees for mining and higher fees for popular huts and campsites.
NZ Herald writer Derek Cheng told The Front Page the gap between DoC’s budget and what it needs is widening – making its biodiversity work and the upkeep of the visitor network fall increasingly behind..
“DoC’s already shed 130 jobs this year to meet its savings target. It’s scaled back some of its climate change work. It’s slashed some of its biodiversity programmes. It’s trying to meet the fiscal restraint and, at the same time, the gap between the money it has, which is flatlining in coming years, and the money it needs, which is billions a year, to be frank, is widening and widening,”
Potaka… wants DoC to be financially sustainable by 2026, but the abyss between the amount of money it has and what it needs is growing wider, exacerbated by hefty bills following extreme weather events…
Cheng said Forest and Bird has told him that in general, Kiwis love nature and they value it.
“Doc recently said that conservation-related tourism is worth about $4b a year. Yet the Crown only puts just over half a million dollars a year into DoC.
Does that make sense? We know it’s financially hard at the moment. The economy’s really struggling. Departments are told to cut jobs, trim fat, and cut the back office. But, in terms of how much money they give to DoC, does it reflect how Kiwis feel about nature?”
3. Govt moves to slash insulation costs, change standards (The Post, Luke Malpass)
The Government is proposing an overhaul of the nation’s strict insulation regime - introduced just a year ago - to drive down building costs while also maintaining reasonable standards.
The Ministry of Business Innovation Employment will today release a consultation document on the H1 insulation review…
The proposals are the latest in a raft of company-level changes by the Government aimed at driving down building costs.
In late October, Penk announced that properly licenced builders with appropriate insurance would be able to “self-certify” their work…
[I]t has been difficult terrain for Penk who signalled potential insulation changes in July only to upbraided by some in the industry.
At the time Green Building Council boss Andre Eagles said that it was “unbelievably short-sighted” and would amount to “effectively ripping insulation out of children’s homes”.
The new policy will go out for consultation today and run until February 2025.
Comment: The owner of Stuff / The Post, Sinead Boucher is part of a Wellington right wing pressure group.
Malpass is The Post’s Political, Business and Economics Editor.
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